Chapter 47: Who Are You Mocking!

Ding Yao and the others sat around the campfire, their hearts heavy with a sense of irony.

The fire they had borrowed from Deng You had already ignited the logs. The warmth of the bonfire reflected on their faces, and the heat of the flames seemed to give them a sliver of confidence in their future.

“What do we do now?” Ding Yao asked.

“Let’s rest first. Tonight has been exhausting enough,” Zhou Yifei said.

Compared to the physical exertion of the journey, what truly drained them was the courage it took to break away from the main group.

Taking that step and facing the future without fear was a challenge in itself.

That night, stirred by the drama, many viewers remained awake.

Others, due to time zone differences, were just waking up.

They had watched the night’s events unfold with crystal clarity, witnessing the collapse of a team they once thought was stable. With only four people left on Jing Xueqin’s side, the audience felt a complex mix of emotions.

• I feel like this is getting a bit ridiculous, it’s almost surreal. Who would have thought? When they first arrived on the island, they were all targeting Qiao Yitong, letting her leave into the wilderness alone. Now, they’re all desperately trying to stick to her, begging for her pity? –

• I think it’s absurd too. When Qiao Yitong first left, so many people were gossiping, saying she definitely wouldn’t survive long without them. And now? Qiao Yitong is doing great, while the people who preached about unity from the start are falling apart. –

• These people are honestly kind of hilarious. They follow whoever is strongest. When they thought Qiao Yitong was useless and just a burden, they all stayed far away. Now they’re all crawling back. –

• I just went back and rewatched everyone’s pre-interviews. My feelings are… complicated. –

This single comment prompted many viewers to head back to the official website to rewatch the pre-recorded interviews of the cast.

The interviews conducted before everyone arrived on the island were all organized and displayed clearly.

Originally, not many people were interested in these pre-interviews, but now, everything happening on the deserted island was so sudden and unexpected.

In their daze, the netizens had almost forgotten what these people were like when they first arrived. Suddenly, a massive wave of people flooded the official platform to watch the replays.

The Director Group, who monitored the guest trends at all times, had long ago edited together a compilation of these interviews.

The first one featured was Qiao Yitong.

She sat on a chair, her eyes slightly downcast. Unlike the vibrant vitality she showed on the deserted island, the version of her in the video radiated a deep sense of exhaustion.

Qiao Yitong: “My goal for joining this show? To try my best to survive and not cause trouble for others.”

After that, she didn’t seem interested in saying much more.

Her manager spoke for her during the interview: “I hope everyone gives her a chance to grow and takes care of her during the show.”

Next came the interviews of the others.

Deng You: “What do you want me to say? I came to this show purely for the prize money, so don’t expect much from me. Oh? What if I encounter danger? Ha, who’s in danger? If I’m in danger, I’ll obviously do my best to save myself. Whether others help me or not isn’t up to me. What if others are in danger?”

Hearing the question from the Director Group, Deng You flashed a disdainful, mocking smile: “If someone else is in danger, what the hell does that have to do with me?”

“You wouldn’t save them?” the Director Group pressed.

“No,” Deng You said firmly.

Seeing this, some of the audience couldn’t help but smile.

The video of Deng You’s instinctive reaction – rushing forward to shield Qiao Yitong from a wild boar – was still fresh in their memories.

A person’s life always seems to revolve around the concept of “eating one’s words¹.”

But in Deng You’s case, seeing him eat his words felt heartwarming.

The screen cut to several people answering the same question.

The Director Group asked: “What do you think is the primary factor for ensuring survival on this deserted island show?”

Shisan: “I think it’s team harmony. After all, on a deserted island, all we have to rely on is each other.”

Director: “Then what if a conflict arises? For example, if some people are more capable and take on more responsibility, while others need more care.”

Shisan smiled: “That’s inevitable. Everyone has different strengths. It’s fine for those with more ability to take on more.”

Faced with this question, Zhou Yifei, Ding Yao, and the others answered almost without hesitation: “The primary factor is undoubtedly mutual help and avoiding competition. I know shows like this often try to make a big deal out of conflict between guests, but I think you’re going to be disappointed with us.”

“Exactly. The principle we need to uphold most in this show is unity and mutual assistance, avoiding competition. Only then can we all survive better.”

When they first watched this, the audience mostly saw it as entertainment.

But now, those past words were returning like boomerangs to strike each of them.

It carried an indescribable sense of irony.

• Just finished watching. All I can say is, the Director Group really knows what they’re doing. –

• Yeah, I used to follow the crowd and curse the Director Group, thinking they were intentionally causing trouble and manipulating people. But looking at it now, the Director Group just dropped them on the island and did almost nothing else. Yet the less they do, the more ironic it becomes. –

• I’m starting to feel like, why get so emotionally invested? None of these people deserve my sympathy. –

• Not necessarily. Before anything had even happened, Qiao Yitong was forced out of the group by the narrative they pushed. She’s still worth sympathizing with. –

• Sympathize with Sister Tong? Hahahaha, I think we should sympathize with ourselves instead. If we were actually dumped on a deserted island like that, Sister Tong would definitely be living her best life. Whether we could survive is another story. –

[Seeing you all get so emotionally invested is actually pretty hilarious. Sympathy for them? I think you should save your sympathy for yourselves and how hard it is to earn a living! As long as they survive these thirty days, ten million hits their bank accounts. To all you people crying about how sorry you feel for them, let me ask: how much can you earn in thirty days?]

[…]

[I’m shutting up. The person above is brutal, but that one sentence woke me up. It’s way too easy to make money on a show these days.]

[Exactly. And they aren’t just making that ten million. Given how viral this show is right now, once they get out, they won’t just be taking that prize money. They’ll be drowning in follow-up offers and endorsements. They can literally make in one day what some people can’t earn in a lifetime.]

[Damn, the more I think about it, the more pissed I get. I’m sitting here working overtime right now, busting my ass for five thousand a month. Why is it so easy for some people in this world to make money?]

[That reminds me. Those guys I used to look down on, like Ding Yao and Deng You, are way more successful than me. I might never see ten million in my entire life, yet they managed to get on this show so easily.]

[Suddenly, I feel like these people are making money a bit too easily…]

[…]

[Just a moment ago, I was putting myself in their shoes and speaking up for some of them. After reading what you guys said, my sympathy is gone. If it’s this easy to make money, they deserve whatever misery they get.]

Initially, everyone had been discussing the state of each guest with great fervor.

But somehow, the conversation shifted abruptly toward the variety show’s prize money.

When the temptation of a massive fortune was laid bare, it naturally drew out a crowd of people feeling the sting of inequality.

The tide of public opinion turned in an instant.

This scene played out before the eyes of the staff in the monitoring room.

When the director went onto the island, everyone had been given a thick manual on how to handle various issues.

However, they hadn’t anticipated that fan sentiment would pivot toward how much money was being made.

The person in charge immediately contacted the director to inform him of the current situation.

They expected the director to provide a clear direction for managing the public relations, but to their surprise, after hearing the report, the director only offered one sentence: “Understood,” and nothing more.

The person in charge was puzzled and asked how they should handle it.

Director Song: “Leave it alone.”

“Huh?”

“The purpose of our program is to peer into human nature. The behavior and reactions of the thirteen people on the island represent human nature. Similarly, you, me, and the millions of viewers in front of their screens – everyone’s behavior, every word, and every action is also human nature.”

…

The sun rose in the east and set in the west, and the tides of the sea receded only to return again.

One day passed quickly, and another arrived just as fast.

Dawn broke.

When everyone woke up, they saw Ding Yao and the others resettled in their previous spot.

They only spared them a glance before looking away.

What that group had experienced, they didn’t know, nor did it have anything to do with them.

Their own days remained as they had been: relaxed and warm.

After eating and drinking their fill, everyone went about their own business.

While Shen Yanshu was organizing his things, he noticed Qiao Yitong standing nearby with her arms crossed, watching him.

He stopped what he was doing and looked at her helplessly. “It’s no use staring at me like that. I really don’t know anyone with the same name as me.”

Qiao Yitong didn’t answer, continuing to watch him silently.

In the past, every time her Master was subjected to this gaze, he would helplessly give in to her, time and time again.

She didn’t need to speak to strive for something, nor did she need to speak to defend herself.

Just watching her Master expressed everything.

And this time, after she had stared for a long while, Shen Yanshu finally stopped his movements and looked at her. “Or rather, what kind of help do you want me to provide?”

Qiao Yitong looked into his eyes.

Though their facial features were slightly different, the expression in those eyes felt more and more identical the longer she looked.

They were both so calm and gentle, seemingly easy to get along with, but looking through that surface into the depths, one could feel a sense of indifferent coldness.

She felt that the world couldn’t be full of such coincidences. How could there be someone with the exact same soul?

Not only was the soul the same, but the name was the same too.

Even various small habits were almost identical.

It made sense when she thought about it. She and her Master had ascended at the same time and encountered spatial turbulence together. She had been swept into this world, so it was highly likely her Master was in this world too, and in a situation similar to hers.

“In the past, you’ve never heard of me?” Qiao Yitong asked.

Shen Yanshu lowered his gaze and remained silent for a moment.

He knew that for these celebrities, popularity was a major standard of judgment.

Out of politeness, one should say they had heard of them or knew of them in the past.

But facing Qiao Yitong’s questioning gaze now, he couldn’t bring himself to lie. Instead, he said frankly, “I don’t follow the entertainment industry, so I don’t know you. My apologies.”

Qiao Yitong’s eyes dimmed.

But even with Shen Yanshu saying this, she still felt the possibility of this person being her Master was extremely high.

Could it be…

Master didn’t want to have any more entanglements with her in this life?

It made sense. In their previous life, after she had clung to him, he had been covered in scars and wounds just to protect her.

Now that there was a chance to get rid of a burden, if it were her, she might have the same reaction and handle it the same way.

She understood.

But she did not accept it.

Qiao Yitong’s expression hardened. Before Shen Yanshu could react, her palm suddenly pressed against his forehead.

With a soft smack, the moment they made contact, Qiao Yitong’s consciousness surged into Shen Yanshu’s mind.

There wasn’t a single trace of Spiritual Power blocking her. The memory fragments stored in every neuron were laid bare under the power of her intent.

A moment later, Qiao Yitong withdrew her consciousness and pulled back.

Nothing.

In Shen Yanshu’s memory fragments, there wasn’t a single trace of a memory regarding her.

It wasn’t just her; there were no memories of the previous Wasteland world, nor any trace of cultivation.

Shen Yanshu was simply an ordinary person born and raised in this world.

This time, it seemed she had made a blunder.

Once Qiao Yitong was certain that Shen Yanshu hadn’t lied to her-that it wasn’t a case of her Master refusing to recognize her, but rather that they truly were different people-she felt a wave of belated embarrassment.

Her act of forcibly invading his Sea of Consciousness just now was something that wouldn’t have been permitted even in her past life.

It was an act of banditry that completely violated all proper ethics.

It was like breaking down someone’s door and intruding into their home without warning, then turning the entire place upside down.

Only to realize after the search that she had broken into the wrong house.

This blunder made Qiao Yitong feel genuinely bashful when facing Shen Yanshu.

“I’m sorry,” Qiao Yitong apologized, her expression awkward.

Shen Yanshu had no idea what Qiao Yitong had actually done; he only knew that his head was ringing from her sudden, unexpected slap.

As Qiao Yitong stepped back, he touched his reddened forehead and gave a bitter smile. “Am I suffering this undeserved calamity just because I share a name with that person?”

Qiao Yitong rubbed her nose sheepishly.

“I suppose so,” she said.

While the two were talking, Lu Cheng was not far away, pulling in the fish traps he had set in the sea earlier.

Although Sister Tong provided all sorts of food now, Lu Cheng hadn’t given up on fishing-the most direct way to obtain resources-since fish were the most accessible resource the ocean offered.

However, as he was pulling them in, he caught sight of the intimate interaction between the two.

He saw Qiao Yitong reach out to “touch” Shen Yanshu’s forehead.

He also saw Sister Tong looking embarrassed, while that Shen Yanshu had the shy look of someone who had gotten a bargain but was still acting coy.

Every bit of it made Lu Cheng feel incredibly irritable.

His movements became several degrees more violent as he hauled in the fish traps.

“If you keep dragging them up like that, the fish will be thrashed to death even if they weren’t dead already,” Deng You said, strolling over and glancing at Lu Cheng with a dry remark.

Lu Cheng shot him a look as well but remained silent.

“What’s wrong? Something on your mind? Want your big brother to give you some guidance?” Deng You asked, leaning to one side.

“Forget it. You should guide yourself first. The other night I saw you walking this way in the middle of the night and almost thought you were going to jump into the sea,” Lu Cheng replied, trying to suppress the frustration in his heart with banter.

Deng You raised an eyebrow. “Don’t. I’ve never thought about jumping into the sea. I still owe Sister Tong for the things I promised her. Until I help her get those things settled, I have to take good care of myself.”

The mention of Sister Tong made Lu Cheng fall silent again.

He looked over at Shen Yanshu and said to Deng You, “Tell me, if I changed careers now to study medicine, do you think I’d have a chance?”

Deng You: ???

Brother, wake up!

Lu Cheng’s lips twitched; he knew he was joking, so he didn’t pursue the topic further.

However, his occasional glances toward Shen Yanshu carried a faint sense of bewilderment.

What did Sister Tong see in him?

Whatever he had, I should have it too, right?

While he was preoccupied with his thoughts, Qiao Yitong was sitting cross-legged in her room, recovering.

Mobilizing her Divine Sense was actually quite a drain on her. After half an hour of recovery, Qiao Yitong finally soothed her Divine Sense and returned to normal.

However, as she sat quietly on the bamboo bed, fragments of her past life kept replaying in her mind.

Since the Shen Yanshu of this world wasn’t her Master…

Then where exactly was her Master?

At this moment, the longing in Qiao Yitong’s heart was even stronger than before.

She reached out, controlling her Spiritual Power to condense into a droplet-shaped solid in her palm, which she then absorbed back into her body.

In this world, Spiritual Power grew very quickly.

She still needed to figure out the rules of this world as soon as possible and find a way to make her Divine Soul grow rapidly as well.

Once her Spiritual Power and Divine Soul both returned to the Divine Realm of her past life…

Then, she could shatter the void and find her Master within the universe.

Qiao Yitong pursed her lips slightly, a rare look of stubbornness appearing in her eyes.

While they were busy on their end, Ding Yao and the others, who had just returned to a nearby area, had finally finished their rest and were ready to face their tasks for the day.

Now that they were back here, they had to rely entirely on themselves.

“How should the three of us divide the work?” Ding Yao asked.

“With just the three of us, I think we should keep it simple. We’re already quite skilled at tending the fire, fetching water, and gathering edible fruit. Plus, our main goal here is to find rare plants to exchange with Qiao Yitong. So, I think one person should handle the water, the fire, and looking for nearby plants, while the other two go out together to search for new species. When we get back, we’ll give what we find to Qiao Yitong and split the food we get equally between the three of us. What do you think?” Sun Yumeng suggested.

After hearing Sun Yumeng’s words, the other two nodded.

All three of them had been the ones looked down upon and isolated in their previous groups.

Their contributions had never been valued. Being in the same situation had instead made them feel a sense of mutual sympathy.

These three, who had originally trended toward being the weakest, now had no choice but to huddle together for warmth.

After a brief discussion, they finally decided that Ding Yao would stay behind, while Zhou Yifei and Sun Yumeng would go out to search for plants.

The two of them shouldered their backpacks and set out on the path to find unique plants that could be used for exchange.

The jungle here was dense and the environment complex.

Sun Yumeng and Zhou Yifei talked it over and decided it was better to search together. After all, if they encountered any trouble or danger, they could look out for one another.

“What exactly are we looking for? Is there a specific range of characteristics?” Sun Yumeng asked.

“There’s nothing definitive. From what I saw before, Sister Tong seems to want all sorts of strange and unusual plants. So, as long as it’s something we haven’t seen before, we’ll just put it in the bag regardless of what it is. Maybe we’ll get lucky,” Zhou Yifei said.

Sun Yumeng nodded.

“As for the location, I was thinking… maybe we should put in a bit more effort and head toward Area A?” Zhou Yifei suggested after a moment’s thought.

“Why there?”

“Most of their activities are in Area B. That means after the exploration by Lu Cheng and Deng You over the past few days, most of the plants in Area B have probably already been discovered. If we bring back duplicates, they might not be very useful. But from what I’ve observed, they rarely go to Area A. Besides, the environment in Area A is different from Area B, so the plant types should vary greatly. The terrain is more complex, so we’ll have to work harder and the round trip will take longer, but the rewards should be higher.”

Sun Yumeng nodded, agreeing with Zhou Yifei’s assessment.

The two set off, trekking through the complex, muddy terrain as they headed toward Area A, the place where they had previously stayed.

By the time they reached the edge of Area A, half the day had already passed.

“We probably shouldn’t go any further, or we won’t make it back today,” Sun Yumeng said.

Zhou Yifei nodded, looking at the dense, tangled mass of plants before them. He couldn’t put a name to a single one of them. After a moment’s thought, he said, “How about we just collect what’s around here for today?”

Sun Yumeng agreed.

The two spent some time trudging through the muck, digging up specimens until they had filled two large bags for the return journey.

As luck would have it, they ran into Shisan on their way back, who was also out searching for resources.

The two fell silent for a moment, shifting their gaze and instinctively trying to avoid him.

Ever since the three of them had broken away from the group, the atmosphere between them and Shisan’s side had become awkward.

Even though they felt they hadn’t done anything wrong, the shadow of being “traitors” seemed to cling to them.

Shisan spotted them as well.

He also noticed the useless, withered branches they were carrying in their hands.

A flicker of mockery rose in Shisan’s heart.

This was exactly how the weak and the losers acted – they never looked for the cause of their problems within themselves.

When things didn’t go well for them in a team, they felt the team was mistreating them. They never stopped to consider why, in the same group, they couldn’t achieve what others did. They just took it for granted that leaving for the next group would make things better. It was a joke.

“Hey,” Shisan called out.

The two turned back to look at him.

“How are things going over there? If it’s too hard and you can’t find enough to eat, you can always come back. After all, we were a team once,” Shisan said, his face expressionless.

He spoke with such a flat tone that Zhou Yifei and Sun Yumeng couldn’t tell the true meaning behind his words. Was it genuine concern, or was he still mocking them?

They didn’t know, but they had to respond.

After a moment’s thought, Zhou Yifei nodded. “Thanks, Brother Shisan. Same goes for you. If things get difficult on your end, we can look for plants together to trade with Qiao Yitong and her group for food.”

Fearing he might not sound sincere enough, he added, “We’ll see how it goes. If things really get bad, we can talk to Qiao Yitong. She seems to have a good temper; she probably wouldn’t refuse to trade with you.”

His tone was incredibly earnest, but it made Shisan want to curse out loud.

They would be reduced to begging Qiao Yitong?

What a joke!

Who exactly did he think he was mocking?

Translator’s Notes